Amazon's Fire smartphone: Why it doesn't matter how cool it is

Fredric Paul |
June 20, 2014

Amazon's slick new phone boasts innovative features, but it's a niche product preaching to the choir.

As Amazon's tablet successes have already shown, however, the real secret is to leverage the long-term value of tight Amazon integration to lower the device's price. Saving $100 in exchange for being encouraged to buy stuff from Amazon is a far simpler and more powerful selling proposition than having to explain clever new features that may or may not be cool or important in the real world. Especially if that helpful Mayday button is mostly used to help people buy a pair of shoes on Amazon's Zappos site, for example.